I’m now a French citizen, after two decades living in Paris, so I could vote in the recent parliamentary elections. So could my Paris-born daughter, recently turned 18. The morning of the first round, we walked together down our boulevard, past banners heralding the coming Olympic Games. At her old primary school, our local ballot station, we queued among the mostly white, well-off people who inhabit the city centre. It was a momentous election: the French far right had its best shot at gaining power since the Vichy regime collapsed in 1944.
Most of 20th-century Parisian history is in that little school. On the outside wall is a plaque remembering Jewish pupils murdered in the second world war. At the foot of the main staircase is a memorial to former pupils who fell in the first world war. The playground, with its hopscotch court, was where my children tried to make sense of the terrorist attacks of November 2015, whose epicentre was the Bataclan concert hall around the corner.
This summer, Paris is piling up new history. The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) — which is, among other things, an anti-Paris party — finished third in last Sunday’s elections, and has been staved off for now. The Olympics start on July 26 with a spectacular opening ceremony along the Seine, unless it is truncated because of fears of terrorism.